South fork of the American

[ladalske]

Anyone fish the south fork of the American during winter? If so what is the best access area and is it worth the effort. Just curious I live in sacramento and I am always looking for new and different spots to go "close" to town.

[JasonB]

I fish the SFA around the Lotus area from time to time in the winter, just because it's my closest water to get out and fish for an hour or two. TBH, I've only done well there a few times, catching a trout or two there is far less common than getting skunked for me. I've heard of a few folks who have things a bit more dialed in and have better results than I do, but I'm not sure how much success anyone has there in the winter. There are some very nice sized trout in there, but I think the numbers are pretty low so either covering a lot of water or knowing the river well are pretty key there. There are a few trails here and there for accessing the river, or there's easy road access in Coloma/Lotus. Is it "worth the effort"? Kinda subjective, but I think if it were me I'd probably rarely fish it in the winter if I lived in Sac as I think I'd probably rather fish the lower and have a chance at catching a steelhead instead. Of course there's no crowds to battle with up here in the winter... summer is another matter entirely. Upstream along hwy 50, near Kyburz is great summer dry fly fishing for mostly little rainbows, but I've only bothered a couple times in the winter and really didn't have much luck at all up there.

PM if you want more info, I'm happy to share with you; it's not exactly secret stuff, nor prime stuff either, but there is water to fish and there are some nice fish here and there too.
JB